The upside-down Kingdom of Jesus is one that leaves many of us scratching our heads in confusion. Jesus has a lot to say about how to live in the Kingdom of God and what a life of apprenticing to Him produces within the inner man and woman despite life’s circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount teaching is one example, specifically the Beatitudes, that is very counterintuitive to what our culture proclaims is the path to blessedness, flourishing and happiness. Yet, this is where Jesus says true healing and happiness is found because it leads those following Him closer to the loving presence of God.
In Matthew 5:1-11, Jesus sees the crowd gathering but pulls back and gathers his disciples and those who have said “yes” to follow him to spell out what it exactly means to be a Kingdom follower. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’s vision for a life as His disciple in His Kingdom. He starts by telling them the path to happiness by making eight statements about the flourishing person.
Jesus said,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The word translated blessed here is the Greek word makarios, the closest word in Greek to our English happy. This is less about the feeling of happiness and more to do with the idea of what human flourishing and the “fortunate place” in life looks like. In fact, many Bible translations use the word happy in Matthew 5. These eight statements are Jesus’s vision for a happy, blessed, flourishing, right where you want to be in the Kingdom of God type of life. Yet, if we made a list of American Beatitudes it would sound radically different than the list that Jesus presents. Many of us would say more friends, better friends, some level of material comfort and certainty, a group to belong to, more money, more control over the chaos of life and uncertainty of the future, more autonomy and independence, more influence over others, more self-worth and positive self-esteem. Not many of us would think mourning, purity of heart, meekness or poor in spirit. Jonathan Pennington says it well: “What Jesus proclaims as being a state of flourishing includes many things that humanity naturally and even vehemently seeks to avoid.”
Lamenting or mourning, for example, is not an expression that many of us lean into easily let alone believe will help us on our journey to blessedness and flourishing. If anything, avoiding pain, distracting and numbing feels more comfortable and pleasant. At least it does temporarily. But, what Jesus has in mind here are those who bring their grief and sorrow to God specifically by lamenting. Ann Voskamp verbalizes the beauty of lamenting in this way, “Lament is a cry of belief in a good God, a God who has His ear to our hearts, a God who transfigures the ugly into beauty.” Mourning in the scriptures is neither sugar coating pain nor taking the posture of woe is me. Jesus’s vision for the good life in part is a person who takes their grief, mourning and reality of being a broken person living in a broken world to God. Happy is a person who mourns in a Godward direction and takes their grief and sorrow that comes from being part of this life up to God.
So, according to Jesus happiness is not found in circumstances, it is found in God. The blessed, flourishing place to be is in God. All of these promises are centered around getting more of the Father, and when we come to the Kingdom open handed we are ready to receive it. Knowing the reality of how Jesus lived and devoted himself to the will of the Father, specifically humility and self-sacrificial love, helps us make more sense of what he taught and how he lived. Jesus was deeply acquainted with mourning and grief; displayed great meekness (held the earth together and went to the cross on his own volition for sin and sinners); ate with those who society rejected; and on the cross asked the Father to forgive those who were murdering him, because “they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Jesus is not only trustworthy but showed us the path to intimacy with the Father which produces a harvest of love, peace, and joy even when circumstantially it does not seem possible.
Receiving God’s abundance requires humility; it requires the ability to bring our hearts before God when we are desperately in need of Him. God wants to meet us with his love, and Jesus gives a sure hope to a desperate or poor in spirit heart. Lamenting is just one way to experience the grace of God as He is not indifferent or aloof, but incredibly eager and steadfast to shower His creation in love. He wants our souls to long for His presence like a thirst (Psalm 42:1).
Prayer: God, please remove the deeply ingrained beliefs that get in the way of what you are wanting to do in our hearts. We love you but can easily get lost at times in our own understanding of what the path to flourishing and exuberant happiness is and looks like. Please mold our hearts as we cry out and lament unto you as the anchor of our souls and help us trust you more. Transform us as we faithfully follow you for you are the One who satisfies. Amen.
-Carlyn Wood – Learn more about working with Carlyn here!
